1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a room temperature bonding machine and a room temperature bonding method, and more particularly to a room temperature bonding machine and a room temperature bonding method, which are used when a room temperature bonding is carried out with control of the pressure in the chamber.
2. Description of the Related Art
MEMSs (Micro Electro Mechanical Systems), within which micro-sized electric and mechanical components are integrated, are known in the art. Examples of the MEMS include a micro machine, a pressure sensor, and a super small motor. The MEMS is formed so that a vibration structure, exemplified as a cantilever, is sealed therein. The MEMS is desired to be manufactured so that the vibration attenuation ratio of the vibration structure is variable. It is known in the art that the vibration attenuation ratio of a vibration structure varies in accordance with the pressure of gas filled in the atmosphere in which the vibration structure is sealed. That pressure is approximately identical to the pressure of the atmosphere when a substrate is bonded to an MEMS by room temperature bonding. It is thus desired that the pressure in the chamber which provides an atmosphere in which the room temperature bonding is implemented is controlled in a wider range, more precisely.
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. P2006-134900 A discloses a bonding method that can easily attain the room temperature bonding by surely placing junctions into clean states suitable for bonding before performing bonding. The bonding method is related to bonding material bodies having junctions on the surfaces thereof and involves bonding the junctions after the surfaces of the junctions are cleaned by energy wave under a decompressed pressure, wherein, after the cleaning is executed at a predetermined degree of vacuum suitable for the cleaning, the junctions are bonded to each other with the degree of vacuum further increased.
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. H09-158833 A discloses a vacuum evacuation apparatus that can generate a pressure of 10−4 Pa or less in a vacuum vessel and can adjust the pressure in a wide range between 10−5 Pa and 10−2 Pa and can further measure the pressure in the vacuum vessel and can control the pressure precisely. The vacuum evacuation apparatus is provided with: a vacuum vessel accommodating a sample therein; a first vacuum pump connected through a sluice valve to the vacuum vessel to evacuate the vacuum vessel; a mass flow controller introducing gas from a gas supply source into the vacuum vessel; an intermediate room located between the mass flow controller and the vacuum vessel and evacuated by a second vacuum pump provided separately from the first vacuum pump; and a first variable conductance valve having a controllable conductance and located between the vacuum vessel and the middle room.
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. S60-025232 A discloses a semiconductor manufacture apparatus that can reduce a pressure adjustment time to improve the throughput by adjusting the pressure in a vacuum room without opening/closing operations of a variable conductance valve. The semiconductor manufacture apparatus is provided with: a vacuum room in which a wafer is processed; evacuation means for evacuating the vacuum room; and gas supply means for supplying gas necessary for the processing of the wafer to the vacuum room, and in this semiconductor manufacture apparatus, the evacuation of the vacuum room is steadily performed by the exhausting means, and the gas flow supplied to the vacuum room from the gas supply means is controlled, thereby adjusting the pressure in the vacuum room.
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. P 2007-47910 A discloses a pressure and flow control system which is compact and economically advantageous, in which system a circuit group, such as a control circuit, an amplifying circuit are shared. The pressure and flow control system is provided with a sensor that can measure the pressure and the flow rate; means for controlling the pressure and the flow rate; and means for displaying the values of the pressure and the flow rate.